Rivers Always Claim What is Their Own
by LadyRainStarDragon
Summary: Chihiro meets her end in a way that could keep her away from Kohaku. Does she pass her test after death, or will she go through the Fires of Purification.
1. Tricked!

Rivers Always Claim What is Their Own

Chapter 1: Tricked!

By: LadyRainStarDragon

I don't own Spirited Away. I will never own it, but I can write.

No idea what inspired this, but I liked it after it was written. This may or may not be part of my continuity, depending on how 'Rivers Keep Flowing" ends.

Next chapter contains violence that I was not comfortable rating PG-13, but it isn't as graphic as some R movies I've seen.

* * *

The middle aged Priestess had been called out of her warm Shrine home, and away from her two children. She was not worried about leaving them alone, they were old enough to take care of themselves. Instead, she concentrated on the task ahead of her. 

Two young men had burst into her home, pleading for her to drive a demon from their home, fearing for the safety of a baby sister left with a third brother. The two had been lucky that her husband had been in his own home that night, instead of on his monthly visit. That could have been very messy.

She had placed in the pockets of her robes the packets of salt, ash, vials of both holy river water and sake, matches, and candles that she might need. On her back was the ceremonial bow and quiver of hamaya, and her right hand employed her wooden staff that had been bequeathed to her by her grandfather. The gentlemen had insisted they needed to get home right away, leaving her with hastily scrawled directions on a napkin.

"Why do they always have to act up in the winter? You'd think they'd want to lie low and just enjoy the heat provided by the humans. Noooo, gotta try to drive out the humans into the snow and keep it all to themselves, forgetting that the humans are the ones who can put the wood into the fire. Demons." The Priestess shook her head exasperatedly.

She trudged on through the snow, uttering a colorful phrase now and then when some snow managed to find its way into her boots. A few tree spirits cracked a sleepy eye to see what the commotion was on this cold night. Seeing only the Priestess of the river shrine, they went back to their rest, in order to be strong for the spring growing season. The stars danced above, joyous that such a sweet personage would actually be below their light.

The wind began to howl a warning to her, as it had just passed something that it found very suspicious. The Priestess took it as a warning that the demon she would face was a strong and grouchy one. Hopefully she would be able to reason with it instead of having to actually fight. Shaking off the sudden ill feeling, she carried on. A child just might be depending on her.

The wind picked up some more, physically pushing her back, seemingly as if to keep her away from something. It moaned, a steady and low "Nooooooooooooo."

Still the woman soldiered on. A Priestess could not let the weather stay her if she were needed. Unseen eyes peered at her, longing to scream to her to go home. They could not though, although she knew of them, they must not be seen by those who also lurked in the bushes, all they could do was shake the leaves in warning.

The wind gave up. It knew how stubborn she could be. Evidence of just how stubborn she was now flowed freely through the terrain, it's cold waters rushing beneath the very thin ice. Fading down to sighs, the wind kami stayed to watch what was bound to happen.

As the Priestess drew to the middle of a clearing, two forms sprang at her from the sides, tackling her to the ground. Even just three years ago, she would have been able to feel and hear them, but lately she had begun to wear down. Life as the High Priestess of a popular shrine could be hectic, but then you also had to add in her duties of motherhood, and her husband's long absences tending to what tied him to her in the physical world. Her focus had turned within too much at times.

Her staff had been yanked cruelly from her hands, and during the struggle they had rolled around so much that her arrows were scattered and the bow broken. Clothing was torn, and she ferociously fought her attackers. However, they had the benefit of youth, and nights unbroken by emergencies. She lay pinned beneath one of them, and she quickly found out that this one was a male.

"Get your hands off of me!"

"I don't think so Priestess. We've seen you bathing in the river late at night, moaning to the river and writhing in the currents. We also know that your husband has been dead for ages. Don't you think it's time that you moved on?"

"No. Nigihayami Kohakunushi!"

"Keh. You're kami can't help you, they aren't real. Guess we do this the hard way."

The wind roared and the trees cried. There was nothing the trees could do, but the wind could carry this one message.


	2. Kohakunushi's Worst Fear

Rivers Always Claim What is Their Own

Chapter 2: Kohakunushi's Worst Fear

By: LadyRainStarDragon

I don't own Spirited Away. I will never own it, but I can write.

No idea what inspired this, but I liked it after it was written. This may or may not be part of my continuity, depending on how 'Rivers Keep Flowing" ends.

* * *

Miles downstream, if you squinted just right, you could make out the form of a white dragon skimming through the water, checking for blockages, ecosystem health problems, garbage to toss out and all the other things a water dragon does for work. Although he looked like he was enjoying himself (too much at times if he caught you littering his home) something was bothering him. The very wind and earth seemed to be holding its breath or railing against something that shouldn't happen.

Snorting out his annoyance, he dove to the bottom of the river. A patch of the river weeds had called his attention, and he noticed that one in particular was dying, although none of the others were.

'Strange. This one was in perfect health just yesterday.'

As he nudged it with his nose, exploring the problem further, the wind began to whip the surface of his river into a frenzy where he had broken the ice. The fish, who had until then been resting peacefully, exploded around him into chaos. Gliding upwards, he quickly broke water to hear what the wind kami wanted. As his head cleared, the wind carried to his ears something that froze the blood in his veins.

"No. Nigihayami Kohakunushi!"

Water and Wind roared together. The white dragon streaked through the air, low enough to the ground to hopefully find his most precious possession. His Priestess and beloved mate was in danger.

What he found when he finally found her, made him sick. Over there, was the staff her grandfather had passed down to her, and there were her arrows. Her bow was broken, and her clothing torn. Blood showed through in some areas, and her body lay as if someone had r . . .

'No. Please no.'

He drew nearer, sniffing carefully as he listened for a heartbeat. It was there, just barely, but it was fading fast. He caught the scent of two males, and what else he smelt nearly sent him into a fit of rage. His Priestess had been profaned! Not just injured, but profaned!

"H-haku."

His form wavered and shifted to his human one, carefully kneeling beside her.

"Who did this?"

With great effort, she rolled her eyes in the direction that the tracks followed.

"That way. It was the two who have been coming to the shrine every day."

He knew who they were. They had prayed to him often enough to watch over their little sister's spirit. They had not been able to save her from their crazed younger brother. The man had taken her life as well as her own. He did not know where they lived, but he would have his retribution.

"Not much time left. Light is getting so bright. I have to go soon."

"NO!"

The broken woman drew a shaky breath. The long training in self-control was starting to fail her. Her speech began to waver even more than it had been.

"My body is dying Haku, they did more to it then just have their way with me."

"I'll heal you!"

"I don't want to live anymore, my love. What they did to me, the body will never forget. I just want to go home. I have another trial to go through before I can rejoin with you. They call me, Haku."

Blood trickled from her mouth, and he saw the damage that had been done. He felt sick again, but refused to purge himself before the dying woman. It was true, with everything that had happened, her body would never forget. Best to let the body perish before her soul gained the tarnish. It pained him to admit it though. He could see her aura fading, contracting into itself in order to leave the shell behind. Her soul rose from the flesh, still perfect and shining as ever.

"Seven years, my Nigihayami Kohakunushi. Then we will know if I may go home with you, or face the Fires of Purification first. Till then, I must wander here. I need rest now."

She faded from his view, leaving only her mortal shell behind. The heart stopped, and he roared all his pain, rage, horror, sorrow, and vengeance for all to hear, whatever plane they may exist on or within whatever world. The other kami of the area heard and trembled in fear for the humans. The fate that now waited for them would not be one to wish upon one's worst enemy. They could only hope that the powerful dragon had not completely taken leave of his senses and lash out against all in the area.

'They shall pay, my Chihiro. I will make sure that you can rest in peace.'

A streak made its way to the river and dove down deep. That night, the waters rose, flooding the land around for miles. The only places that were untouched were the Shrine Compound and the site of the gruesome occurrence. Strangely enough, not much was damaged, despite the water that had raged. The only damage done had been to one home occupied by two men. They raved to the rescuers about a ferocious river dragon, avenging the murder of his Priestess and love.

The two men had been found on top of the home, with broken bones, large gashes that looked like marks from fangs or claws about their loins, their male anatomy missing, and the word profaner carved deeply into their chests and foreheads. Strangely, the water seemed to be surging upwards toward them, and burns developed on their skin whenever the water touched them.

In their ravings, the duo confessed to the murder and rape, and begged the police to protect them. It was declared that the severe wounds on the two were inflicted by each other in a fit of panic and guilt. The burns were explained away as some weird allergy to the water. They were locked away for their crime, as the DNA evidence left within the body of the woman found earlier matched with theirs.

They were tormented by a 'specter' in their cells for the rest of their short lives. The prison had even called in the local exorcist priest to banish the 'specter' for them, as prisoners on the same block complained about problems with the toilets and loud roaring nightly, coinciding with the 'ghostly visits'. The priest refused though once he set eyes on the prisoners, saying this manifestation was the will of the River Kami and he would not go against the will of the kami for vengeance of the priest's own mother. That night, the attacks intensified. Two months after conviction, they hung themselves with their underwear, terror etched forever into their faces. The scars of their old wounds, including the justified brands on chest and forehead, had been reopened by razor sharp talons.

Her body had already been burnt in the old Shinto style, as had been done before the influence of Buddhism in Japan, the ashes dumped into the waiting river. A mini-shrine was erected to her just outside of the public shrine to the resident kami. It was the place that the yarrow sticks had indicated, and everyone knows that the kami could express himself through the yarrow stalks. It was rumored that late at night, you could see the river kami and the kami of the spring feeding the river there, praying for the soul of the Priestess to overcome her trial. Of course, the family of the Priestess also prayed there. Some even said that her American friend and her husband came to pray at times, but only at night to be gone by morning's light.

Over time, people said that they could see her walking along the path from the Shrine to the town. It was a much younger version of her, how she had looked in her mid to late twenties according to those who had known her then. She wore the blue and white traditional to her shrine, carrying the staff now used by her daughter, a quiver of the hamaya on her back along with a bow. It was said that she protected women who walked alone at night from rapists and robbers, and that you should turn back if she warned you to. Her mini-shrine became almost as popular as that of her kami, for the simple fact that every parent or husband would pray for the safety of their female loved ones when alone.

On the anniversary of her death, you could see the Priestess and her kami easily if you went to the murder site and sat in a ring of salt and five white candles. You had to be silent though, for one noise, and the scene would dissolve before your eyes. Each year, the river grew restless about three weeks before the fateful day, but always was dead calm for three weeks afterward.

Five years passed, and those who were brave enough to attempt watching the ghostly meeting were always surprised to hear what the two called each other. It was almost as if she was married to the kami if one didn't know how silly that was. Always they talked of how soon she would be able to go home, the state of the Shrine, and of how her children were faring without her. The kami always shed silent tears when she faded away, lost to him again. Some remarked how much the children of the deceased Priestess resembled him, and speculation about who she had really married began to circulate again for the first time in years.


	3. Witnessing the Verdict

Rivers Always Claim What is Their Own

Chapter 3: Witnessing the Verdict

By: LadyRainStarDragon

I don't own Spirited Away. I will never own it, but I can write.

No idea what inspired this, but I liked it after it was written. This may or may not be part of my continuity, depending on how 'Rivers Keep Flowing" ends.

* * *

Seven years had finally passed, time filled for my brother and I by the duties of the Shrine, regular work, and ceaseless prayers for our mother. That night, Father came to us.

'The Tribunal has called all of your mother's family and friends to witness the verdict.'

"We understand Father."

Without another word, we climbed on his back. Although we had inherited both Father's Dragon magic and Mother's strange Human magic, we were incapable of flight or transformation, something Father thought would change with time and training. As we rose, I could see the landscape change from the human world to that of the spirit world.

Mother stood firm before the court, which was comprised of several types of spirits I had never encountered. I did recognize King Yama of the Underworld, but that was all. Behind mother in the pews I saw several of what I thought were bathhouse workers, two Victorian ladies who were twins, Kaonashi who was Zeniba's helper, my grandparents and great grandparents, Aunt BlowingWind and Uncle Ryu, Ten, and many other people I did not recognize off of the top of my head. We slid in beside Koji-jichan, father wrapping his long tail about us in an unconscious gesture of protection.

"Nisou Nigihayami Ogino Chihiro. You are here tonight for your verdict after the seven years testing period."

Mother had kept the name Ogino for the human world, but here she was Priestess Nigihayami or Lady Nigihayami as Father's Priestess and Mate. Nigihayami was our secret name, used only among the spirits. It would cause too much explanation in the human world for our name to be known as our kami's as well.

"You have brought harm to none who have not needed it. Your loved ones have prayed devoutly for your soul to attain peace. You have protected many, and even served as a minor goddess to your home area in certain ways. However, we must bear in mind that they have come to rely on you even in your death."

Groans filled the room. No one had thought that it would be this hard for a faithful Priestess to rejoin her kami in her death.

"In your life, you served your kami, who was also your mate, faithfully. You gave him a vow that you would remain his in death as you did in life. You have inflicted upon yourself your own karma with that vow, and we may not stop it, only stay it for a time."

Silence pounded my ears. It was sounding like they would send her through the Fires of Purification after all before she could go home. How would Father react if it were so? I don't think the community is ready for another flood.

"Your death was a violent one, however you retained no taint upon your soul, and forgave them in a fashion, despite your mate's having wreaked such severe vengeance upon them."

Everyone was sneaking furtive glances at Father, wondering just what he had done. Even Mother looked as if she was barely keeping from looking back at him. Father looked as if he would be more than happy to do it again if presented the chance. He really could be violent if angered enough. Never anger a kami.

"It is our verdict that you are free. You will be going with your husband to his world. However, you must also serve as a kami. In addition to the normal and traditional family guardian role, you will also continue to guard the lone women within and around his realm from violent attacks such as you endured. Do you accept our verdict, Nigihayami Ogino Chihiro, Priestess and Mate of Nigihayami Kohakunushi who is Ruler of the Kohakugawa?"

"Yes, your Lordships, I, Nigihayami Ogino Chihiro, Priestess and Mate of Nigihayami Kohakunushi accept your verdict."

Cheers filled the room, and there was much hugging and kissing to our cousins', my brother's and my own embarrassment. Father had raced forward to wrap himself about mother's now solid form for the first time in what must have been ages to him. Even the normally dour faced King Yama smiled at the sight, and now that Mother was properly part of the spiritual realm, even the most stalwart of anti human-kami relations bigots would be able to find no fault with the match. I wondered if I would be getting more siblings someday, as Father was still rebuilding his realm's citizenry.

Hooking one of his horns beneath her arm, he swung her to sit astride him, grasping onto him as she knew instinctively what he was going to pull. They soared into the night, finally free to be together for forever, however long forever is. I wonder what our other home looks like, but I'm in no hurry to see it yet. I still have yet to have a family of my own.

"Well, Sis, it looks like Father forgot that we need a ride home, since we happen to be alive with human blood in our veins."

"Yup. Let's find a sober dragon this time though. Not like when we came back from visiting Auntie and Uncle underneath Mt. Fuji."

"I'll take you home kids."

Yawning from the excitement and long day I had had, I peered through my tears. Uncle Ten was beside us, and had assumed his dragon form. It was something he did only rarely, as he was a dragon without flight, the reason he chose to live underground. His brown scales were the color of the rich earth, and I was reminded of the times we would visit him when we were small. We climbed up, and I nestled into the fur of his mane. He started his dash along the ground, moving much like the large silk dragons in festival processions.

"I hope that someday I can find someone to love the way Mother loves Father."

I must have fallen asleep on the ride home, because I awoke in my bed with the sun. Beside my futon was a note, written in what I recognized as Uncle Ten's hand. I read the note, and smiled.

'He's right, I will find that person someday.'

An image of a man my own age flashed before my eyes, his brown eyes with a touch of green around the pupil searching for me. I have seen these eyes from time to time since I was very young, and I always got the feeling that he was somewhere jungle-like, waiting for our destiny to bring us together.

I pushed the thought out of my head. I had duties to attend to, and a new sign to inscribe for mother's Shrine. I would also build it up a bit higher and put a shoji between the walls of Mother and Father's public Shrines.

It wasn't like it could really hurt anything. After all, the rumors had been circulating for years that Mother had really married the river guardian. The elders who knew what the water dragon looked like from the old books had probably figured out whose children we were long ago by our eyes and hair. As for those who didn't realize their true status, it could always be said it was to ease her service to her Lord in her afterlife.

After all, rivers always claim what is their own, regardless of what the humans say.


	4. Spirit's Wound

Rivers Always Claim What is Their Own

Chapter 4: Spirit's Wound

By: LadyRainStarDragon

I don't own Spirited Away. I will never own it, but I can write.

Last installment on this one, just because somebody was surprised by Chihiro wanting to give up.

* * *

His black booted feet sloshed through the water, midnight pants soaking up the flood waters around him, sky-blue shirt becoming damp from his sweat, sticking to his back as he continued his search. The sunlight gleamed from his badge, unable to reach his eyes due to the brim of his constable hat.

A man who looked so much like his father, and yet was not, had been in early in the morning, bringing an anonymous tip that the local Priestess had been killed on the way to town.

The young officer continued on. He had a personal stake in this search, and was determined that Ogino-Nisou be found. She was his mother.

What he found, put even his grandfather Tatsu's stories of wars to shame. Tadasu felt his guts try to force themselves up his tightened esophagus, crying against the sight.

She wasn't even identifiable at first glance.

Her clothing was ripped, blood bathing everything it seemed. Her once sweet face, broken, crushed, bruised, battered, lacerated. It looked more like hamburger than a human. Strangely, her lips bore a peaceful, although pained smile, as if she had received an epiphany at the moment of death, or a visit from a guiding kami.

He suspected the later.

"Over here!"

Her mounds, where he and his sister once suckled her life-giving milk, were no longer there, appearing as if whoever had done this had gouged them off with their fingers. Mother's slightly soft belly, tracked with her fluids, the river long since dried. Looking further down at her precious gateway, what his father called a woman's most sacred mystery, he wondered how his mother could have survived long enough for his father to have found her.

Tadasu couldn't hold back any longer. His tears became the river to ease his mother's journey, his wails the winds that propelled the raft carrying her candle past the sea to the court of the dead.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Sh. That's Officer Ogino, the current High Priest of the Kohakugawa Shrine. He took this job just out of high school, before Koji-san passed."

"You mean, this is his mom?"

"Yeah. And I hope whoever did this to her dies a thousand deaths for it."

"He sure doesn't look like her, does he? I mean, he's got such green eyes and black hair. He looks like that guy that came in giving us the tip about her."

"I saw a picture of his dad once, looks just like him. He was always gone on business, then they say he had an accident. Nobody's seen him since. She never remarried, although there had been guys trying, for the Shrine's money you know."

"Probably somebody's revenge then?"

'I should have gone instead. Instead, Mom wanted me to rest for today's shift. What if this had been Gawakusa?"

* * *

For the past seven years, he had dreamed this every night. And every night he would creep to his sister's room, to see that she was indeed safely in her bed.

Every night, he would go to his mother's shrine and pray for her. He'd see her sometimes, when he was on duty and patrolling the area. It was a commonly used path, and so nobody wanted a repeat.

He'd caught quite a few thugs just in time on those nights.

His mother's eyes, the sadness and pain at what others did, it horrified him.

Tonight, he was looking at the improved shrine Gawakusa had constructed. For the first time in seven years, he felt at peace.

The problem was, he knew he would always dream of how his mother looked, with her weapons scattered and her body in that state. Kneeling on the ground, he vowed he would never leave his own mate open like that. When he took one, she would always be chaperoned by someone, this world could be far too cruel.

Unseen to him, Ten and Tatsu watched from the shadows of the sacred grove.

"The boy has been little more than a wraith himself since his mother's death. If I had known that he was on duty that morning, I would have gone to the other desk."

"It's not your fault Tatsu. He probably would have been on the search team anyway. And if not, it would have been the rescue team. What if he had heard their confession that day?"

"He will never be the innocent boy that he once was. He will always dream of what he saw, and what could have been if it were his elder sister. Even worse, he will always blame himself."

"Tatsu. . ."

"My grandchild will always carry that wound, and he is doomed to know his mother will be pulled out of her peaceful existence with my son time and again to stop such things from happening again. She and he will see each other many times as he is a law-enforcer as well as shrine priest, and each time, he will be reminded."

A choked sob caught in the mountain lord's chest as the spring lord carefully placed a hand on the other's shoulder. The half-ling they were watching fell the rest of the way to the ground, screaming one question over and over again to any kami who cared to listen.

"Why?"

The two dragons retreated farther away, tears leaking steadily from their eyes, snowmelt from thawing emotions.

"Becoming involved with the mortals brings such pain as they change from shell to shell."

The two came to a clearing in the forest, Crescent Moon opening her arms to all in pain. The white dragon of the Sacred Mountain looked over a shoulder, imagining his beloved grandchildren.

"Hai, Ten. But the humans can bring such wonderful gifts as well. We must not forget."

* * *

Tadasu - to correct

Gawakusa - river grass


End file.
